Brokerage Outlook: Maine

• Southern Maine Retail

• Southern Maine Office

Southern Maine Retail Cardente Submitted by Matthew Cardente, broker and owner of Portland, Maine-based Cardente Real Estate. Posted 02-20-07. What area is your expertise? • Southern Maine retail market. What trends do you see presently in retail development in your area? • Maine’s retail market has been very strong over the past several years. Because Maine tends to be the last state in northern New England to get the up–and-coming national retail operations, the market is still strong with new retail development opportunities. New retail developments in Maine are various, and include anything from big box regional shopping centers to multi-tenanted retail buildings that target retailers between 1,000 and 3,000 square feet. What type of retail product is doing well in your area? • Multi-tenant retail buildings with unit sizes ranging from approximately 1,000 to 3,000 square feet. What retailers are new to your area? • Whole Foods Market is currently under construction on a 45,350-square-foot facility on Somerset Street in Portland. Whole Foods Market will be competing head to head with Wild Oats Marketplace, which is located on Marginal Way in Portland. Cabela’s is planning to build an approximately 125,000-square-foot retail store in Scarborough, which will compete with L.L. Bean’s home base in Freeport. Other recent developments include The Shops at Biddeford, a 500,000-square-foot retail development by Packard Development on Route 111 in Biddeford, the expansion of Augusta Marketplace by SR Weiner, the redevelopment of Class B retail buildings to Class A retail buildings on Western Avenue in South Portland, and numerous other projects in Topsham, Scarborough, Portland and Westbrook. Where is the majority of development taking place? Why is this area doing well? • The majority of retail development and redevelopment in Southern and Central Maine is occurring in close proximity to the major turnpike and highway exits. Areas of significant development include Falmouth and South Portland because they are the only two municipalities in Southern Maine that offer direct access to Interstate 295 and the Maine Turnpike. Retail follows the ‘golden rule’ of real estate more than any other commercial classification. Retail is about location, location, location, and direct access from major highways provides consumers with easy accessibility and convenience. What area do you expect to be the next big retail development market? Why? • Areas showing potential upside in future retail development include Western Avenue in South Portland, the Route One Corridor of Saco, the Haigis Parkway of Scarborough, the redevelopment of Old Orchard Beach, the Topsham Fair Mall area of Topsham and Falmouth. Please give a measure of retail vacancy rates. Please give a measure of available sublease space. • Class A rental rates for Southern Maine range from $15 to $30 per square foot NNN depending upon the location.

Southern Maine Office Cardente Submitted by Matthew Cardente, broker and owner of Portland, Maine-based Cardente Real Estate. Posted 02-04-07. What area is your expertise? • Southern Maine office market. What trends do you see presently in office development in your area? • We are currently seeing a mix of new development in the downtown Portland and suburban markets, as well as the redevelopment of commercial buildings into Class B office space. Please name one or two significant office developments in your area. What impact will these projects have on the market? • Several new projects to note for the downtown Portland market include: • Custom House Square — Located in the Old Port area of downtown Portland, this approximately 60,816-square-foot, six-story office condominium tower is currently under construction and offers office condos on the upper levels and retail on the first level. • Bayside Redevelopment Land — Bayside is located off of Franklin Arterial, Somerset Street and Marginal Way in Portland. The City of Portland recently put several lots in this district on the market for redevelopment of office and mixed-use. Lots range from approximately 0.28 to 1.3 acres and are available for sale for $125,580 to $583,052 per acre. Another recent development in Downtown Portland was 280 Fore Street which is an approximately 110,000-square-foot office building constructed in 2005. This building’s anchor tenant is Baker, Newman, & Noyes. As for the suburban Greater Portland market, new developments include Stonewood Crossing, which is located on Route 1 in Freeport, Maine. This approximately 22,000-square-foot office building was completed in 2005 and only has approximately 3,000 square feet remaining for lease. Current tenants include MiddleOak and Power Engineers. Another significant suburban office project is Pineland Farms, which is located in New Gloucester. Pineland was originally established in 1908 and was used to facilitate Maine’s mentally challenged. Now fully redeveloped into an approximately 258,000-square-foot office campus, Pineland is home to tenants including Energy East and Mountain LTD and offers an onsite cafeteria, a YMCA with a full fitness center and area trails used for running and cross-country skiing. Where is the majority of development taking place? Why is this area doing well? • We are continuing to see the majority of the office development and redevelopment in the Greater Portland area of Southern Maine. As noted before, there are several large office buildings that have been built in the financial district of Portland, and there are plans in the Bayside area to build more. The suburban markets are holding strong in areas where there is easy access to Interstate 295 and the Maine Turnpike. The suburban markets can now compete with the financial district of Portland because the suburban markets offer free parking, reasonable lease rates and state-of-the-art telecommunications. Parking in downtown Portland can cost $85 to $110 per parking space per month. What area do you expect to be the next big development market? Why? • We anticipate that the next areas of big development in Southern Maine will be on the Route 1 corridor between Falmouth and Freeport, the Haigis Parkway area of Scarborough and the Bayside District of Portland. All of these areas offer mainstream exposure, easy accessibility and fully developable land.